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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

How many university Open Days did your dc attend?

109 replies

wildfellhall · 01/10/2024 14:12

I am interested to know what parents think is an ideal number which will, of course, vary from family to family.

Also how much & what way did the open days impact the dc's first choice?

I did two with ds which, on reflection, was not enough really. I think even just one more visit would have helped him.

dd is in gcse year now.

My niece's experience of horrible and extortionately expensive accomodation is making me wonder about finding out more about accomodation. It's made her uni experience fairly grim.

OP posts:
SingingAvocado · 01/10/2024 14:29

We did 10, which is rather excessive (!). We started looking when DD had just started Y12 because, athough was sure she knew what she wanted to study, we thought she would need quite a lot of thinking time about where to study. We started out in the autumn term of Y12 looking at 6 unis approx 2h away from home. When only two of those inspired her, and due to some growing up over the course of Y12, she said she was prepared to live further away to get something more 'special'. So we looked at 4 more in the summer that were further away. In the end her UCAS application has been for two from the autumn batch and three from the summer batch. Her heart is set on the very first uni that we saw though, and we even saw it again at the end of the summer to make sure. It was love at first sight (although puts the pressure on now!). To cut costs we didn't tend to stay overnight and I booked trains well ahead using the split fares app. We were lucky that the two northernmost unis that we looked at, York and Manchester, had open days the same weekend so for those we drove and did stay over, booking campsites nearby. I agree that looking at accommodation is really helpful but just generally you really get a vibe about a place that is difficult to explain …

mumonthehill · 01/10/2024 14:31

We did 5 for elder ds and we will have done 3 for younger ds. Ds23 ended up going to a uni we did not visit!

PartoftheBand · 01/10/2024 14:46

DD will have done 7 (last one this month). She's changed her mind slightly about both the course and the type of uni she wants during the process.

Changes17 · 01/10/2024 14:52

We've done three and all quite far away – so we've had to stay over. Two were ruled in, with one that DS is uncertain about. He's ruled out quite a lot of places just on the basis of being a campus or a large city. He'll put five down but any others will only get visited if he gets offers from them. They were all out of the way by early September and now he wants to focus on A-levels/EPQ.

TBF I personally didn't go on any open days at all before applying and was very happy with my choices (though I did go for three in-person interviews, which I suppose is less common now).

Filingmyshoes · 01/10/2024 15:02

2 with DS who ended up going to one we hadn’t visited at all

about 8 with DD who ended up at her first choice, hated all the others!!

IsItOnTheTrolleyCanYouSeeIt · 01/10/2024 15:07

I remember going to three. Two on school trips (the school organised each of them, they only organised two so the locations weren’t my choice) and another with my parents. I went to one of the ones the school organised a trip to.

I didn’t make the connection at the time that I was more comfortable in the one that was a campus university. Had I seen more than one campus university, I may well have gone to a different one.

taxguru · 01/10/2024 15:10

We took our DS to six, applied to 5 of them, got offers from all 5 and ended up going to the first visited which happens to be our closest! We did wonder why we bothered! But, DS has since said it was only visiting the others that cemented his decision to go to the first. In fact he didn't like the first, our nearest, when we visited, but it "grew" on him after seeing the others! With him, he didn't really know what he "wanted", but during the visits, it helped him decide what he didn't want. If that makes sense!

It wasn't helped by him not knowing which subject to study. He varied between Maths, Physics, Engineering and Natural Sciences, so he toured and did the subject talks for different subjects at different Unis, so that probably clouded his judgement too.

In fact, he didn't tour the Maths dept nor did he do any Maths subject talks at the Uni he finally chose to do a Maths degree, as right at the start of the visits, he didn't want to do a Maths degree!

Talk about not knowing what you want and being indecisive! I think we had to do so many visits just for him to explore subjects as well as Unis.

Hadalifeonce · 01/10/2024 15:13

DS 1, DD 0
DS knew where he wanted to go, and wasn't remotely interested in looking elsewhere.
DD doing the same course as DS, had a gap year knowing she had the grades when she applied.

Daschund · 01/10/2024 15:16

This will be number seven (Manchester) this weekend, then just Leeds and Sheffield booked to go to in this round. She's also completed two week long Summer schools at different universities. DD is pretty set of her first choice because it combines physics and astrophysics. I'm just the chauffeur (I know most parents go in), but she wants to make all of her own choices.

anoukis · 01/10/2024 15:28

This thread is quite useful...

DD (year 12) signed up to go to 2 local (London) ones this October, with one of her friends. No parents, just DD and her friend who is considering the same programme. Medicine :sigh:

She's already visited one of the Oxford colleges in year 11 as part of a sports-related outreach programme. She loved it but Oxbridge chances are slim.

Apart from that, I think visiting 2-3 more unis that aren't local makes sense. If she ends up applying to Medicine, there might be some in-person interviews, so we need to save money for that too.

hennybeans · 01/10/2024 15:35

Ds has visited 7 ( one with a mate, 6 with us). 2 of those are nearby, 2 are medium distance, and three on the other side of the country.

He really had no idea what kind of uni he preferred, ie city, rural, proper campus, etc. Although he knows his subject choice.

Ds is just submitting his ucas app this week and has gone for 4 unis that he visited and one far away that he hasn't.

LongtailedTitmouse · 01/10/2024 16:05

DC1 we went to one open day, DC2 has been to two opens days, going to a third soon and has been to events at a fourth so didn’t feel the need for an open day at that one.

mimbleandlittlemy · 01/10/2024 16:19

DS now in final year at university, but he visited 6, I went with him to 4. Only five did the exact combination he was looking for, he would have had to do something slightly different at one of them so that was always an outlier. The last open day we went to he didn't really want to go but he grudgingly agreed - and he was blown away by it, it totally changed his mind about where he wanted to go, and that's where he has been the last four years.

As far as accommodation was concerned, we only looked at the accommodation for one because we were always restricted by the time of trains back home, there's often a lot to cover in the way of talks, and accommodation can be a bit away from the university. All the universities have accommodation on their websites so it's quite easy to do some sensible research before the open day and rule out the unaffordable halls.

LongtailedTitmouse · 01/10/2024 16:31

My experience/knowledge of accommodation in half a dozen universities is they all have the range from grim to lovely, sometimes within the same hall. There is an element of luck in what you get. But even pretty grim accommodation can be fun with the right set of people around you. Conversely my DN was in a lovely shiny en-suite halls and had a horrible time due to flatmates.

theeyeofdoe · 01/10/2024 16:44

SingingAvocado · 01/10/2024 14:29

We did 10, which is rather excessive (!). We started looking when DD had just started Y12 because, athough was sure she knew what she wanted to study, we thought she would need quite a lot of thinking time about where to study. We started out in the autumn term of Y12 looking at 6 unis approx 2h away from home. When only two of those inspired her, and due to some growing up over the course of Y12, she said she was prepared to live further away to get something more 'special'. So we looked at 4 more in the summer that were further away. In the end her UCAS application has been for two from the autumn batch and three from the summer batch. Her heart is set on the very first uni that we saw though, and we even saw it again at the end of the summer to make sure. It was love at first sight (although puts the pressure on now!). To cut costs we didn't tend to stay overnight and I booked trains well ahead using the split fares app. We were lucky that the two northernmost unis that we looked at, York and Manchester, had open days the same weekend so for those we drove and did stay over, booking campsites nearby. I agree that looking at accommodation is really helpful but just generally you really get a vibe about a place that is difficult to explain …

We did 10 as well and they were all really useful.
DS2’s turn now and 10 on the short list too.
first 2-3 are defo surely deciding what course (online/local ones best)
then deciding if campus/town/mixture best.
then getting the best departmental fit and looking around the area to see if they want to spend 3 years there.

lanthanum · 01/10/2024 17:06

I think we did 7, and then she wanted to go to four offer-holder days as well! Subject was already decided, so she didn't even have that aspect to worry about. I think she also did one online open day which didn't impress her.

Fortunately it was relatively easy for us to take her, and it was quite nice to spend that time with her, and to be involved in her decision-making.

There often seem to be pairs in the same direction on the same weekend - we combined Leeds & Durham, and I think Bristol/Bath/Southampton were the same weekend.

LongtailedTitmouse · 01/10/2024 17:12

I would be very sceptical about online open days. It would surely just be like a promotional video - all sunshine and carefully chosen views?

UnityB · 01/10/2024 17:28

DS visiting 6 over y12 & 13

1 with school
1 with mate
4 with me

He's liked 3/5 so far so now needs to find another 2 to make up his 5 for ucas.

Was really helpful in that he worked out what type of uni is/ isn't for him.

outdamnedspots · 01/10/2024 20:19
  1. She ended up going to her favourite of those.
Original poster
wildfellhall · 01/10/2024 20:32

Wow (!) thank you all so much for all of this experience. It's fascinating to hear what a wide range of experience creates a final choice.

OP posts:
HarpyBirthday · 01/10/2024 20:45

Eldest , none due to lockdown.

Dc2 , 1 proper open day, the other a visit to the uni and department which was as good as. Went to both with college.
Didn't want to go to any more - but had visited the cities of a couple of the others that were on the Ucas for.

SabrinaThwaite · 01/10/2024 21:06

Eldest knew which course he wanted to do, visited 3 unis with school friends (we or other parents just dropped them off). Chose the one where he’d be happiest spending 5 years.

Youngest also knew which course he wanted to do, didn’t want to visit any, and took course / city recommendations from online friends. He applied to 5 and we did ad hoc visits to 2 of them - he hated one and liked the other, which he firmed. Didn’t visit his insurance choice.

Ended up taking a year out and applied to a different uni, which we went up to and had a wander around (not on an open day) - he’s just started there.

aibutohavethisusername · 02/10/2024 04:14

4 open days as well as two other open events at the chosen uni I believe.

Octocat · 02/10/2024 06:11

This is probably a daft question, but do you have to go on open days? We are in NI and visiting any GB unis will cost a lot, so I was wondering about trying to do more than one uni per visit.

2024intake · 02/10/2024 06:17

We went to four. We’d planned to do five but ran out of time really so will start earlier with the next DC. We stayed overnight at three out of the four as all are city universities not campus and wanted to get a feel for the area.